Suspected Times Square bomber, Faisal Shahzad, was added on May 3 to the 'no fly' list banning him from flights and airlines were sent a special electronic alert.
The FBI asked the department of homeland security to limit urgent alerts to airlines about the suspected Times Square bomber to avoid more media leaks and risks of tipping him off, an Obama administration official said on Tuesday.
The suspect, Faisal Shahzad, was added on May 3 to the "No Fly" list banning him from flights and airlines were sent a special electronic alert. Only some airlines, mainly US carriers, received a follow-up phone call after the FBI asked that those contacts be limited, the official said.
The fast-paced pursuit of Shahzad ended later that night when Customs and Border Protection agents found him aboard an Emirates Airlines flight shortly before it was due to take off for Dubai from New York's John F Kennedy International Airport.
The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, declined to detail why Emirates was not contacted. The FBI request was first reported by Newsweek magazine.
"We do not discuss specific operations or investigative techniques," said FBI spokesman Richard Kolko. A department of homeland security spokeswoman also declined to comment.
Shahzad has admitted to investigators that he drove a crude car bomb into New York's busy Times Square on May 1 and tried to set it off, according to the criminal complaint filed against him in federal court. The bomb failed to explode.
Attorney General Eric Holder acknowledged on Sunday that the law enforcement had lost track of Shahzad for a period of time before he was caught at the airport. He said they had tried to maintain some distance from Shahzad to see if he had co-conspirators.
Before the incident, the Transportation Security Administration gave airlines 24 hours to add new names for the No Fly list to their computer systems. After discovering that Shahzad was able to board the flight, it ordered airlines to add names within two hours of receiving special alerts.
Holder said the United States had evidence that a Pakistani Taliban group allied with al- Qaeda was behind the attempted bombing. Shahzad, 30, a naturalized American of Pakistani origin, has been charged with five counts including trying to kill and maim people within the United States.
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